Mindi Winters spent some extra time in the Zillah postgame locker room, talking to her girls and trying to solve a puzzle with three big pieces.

Everything was strange for the Leopards to open up the Class 1A state basketball tournament Wednesday in the SunDome — the poor start, the fouls and the lack of offense. Even their opponent Chelan felt a little weird after taking a 63-53 first-round victory; feelings Winters echoed before heading into the locker room for a long chat.

“(The game) just didn’t feel right,” said Winters, whose team drops to 19-6 overall and will meet Forks in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. “It was strange. I think they have athletic, experienced, strong girls on their team just like us.

“But we should have been able to counteract the way they play. Our passing was just off and we weren’t in synch.”

The poor start didn’t help things. Trailing 7-6 with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter, Zillah fell apart as Chelan used a 15-2 run to close out the frame and take a 22-8 lead.

Never able to chip into that margin until late in the fourth quarter, the Leopards joined the Goats in battling a group of referees eager to hear their whistles blow. Both teams were in the bonus before the end of the first quarter as all the stoppages kept either from getting any momentum.

No player from either side made a basket in the second quarter until Chelan’s Izzy Barth hit one free throw with 5 minutes, 18 seconds left before halftime. The referees continued to call foul after foul as the two squads combined for 46 whistles in the game — 24 going against Zillah.

“The whole game was weird,” said Goats coach Dane Lewman, whose team improves to 23-3 overall and will meet Connell, which Chelan defeated 67-50 earlier this season, in the second round at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. “We weren’t able to do what we were trying to do.

“It was the fouls by itself. They called some strange stuff on both sides — stuff I didn’t think was there.”

The Leopards managed enough momentum and hit some 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to pull within seven, 48-41, with 3:21 remaining. The offense stalled again, though, forcing premeditated fouls from there. The Goats, who shot only 3 of 14 from the free-throw line in the first half, got hot enough down the stretch to close with an 11-3 run.

Kristin Schramm was the only Chelan player in double figures as one teammate finished with nine and three others had eight each to lead a balanced attack. Joelle Patterson had 18 points, including a 3-pointer from beyond the CBA arc in the fourth quarter, to lead Zillah with 18 points. Bayli Ziegler added 11, and Felicia Gonzales chipped in 10.

Turnovers will be an area most of those scorers look into before today’s game against Forks, which lost 47-28 to Connell in the first round. They committed 26 in the game, and Gonzales had eight as the Goats’ man-on-man defense had 15 steals.

Chelan got careless with the ball as well, especially in the second half, but that didn’t matter as it won the rebounding battle 48-36. This total included 19 offensive rebounds that the Goats turned into 13 second-chance points.

These are both areas to address, but Winters never claimed after the game that the team didn’t put forth a strong effort. She, like the rest of the Leopards, just hope all the jitters and the lack of flow is out of their systems for the rest of the tournament.

“I think it was a lot of nerves,” said Patterson after emerging from the post-game team discussion. “We talked about that in the locker room that this game is over and we got all that adrenaline out.

“Now we have to play like we know how to play.”

Zillah -- B. Ziegler 2-7 6-11 11, Gonzales 2-8 4-4 10, C. Ziegler 2-4 0-0 4, Uasike 1-2 0-2 3, Patterson 7-17 2-4 18, Walker 0-2 0-0 0, Guthrie 3-5 1-2 7. Totals 17-45 13-23 53.
Chelan -- Harris 3-5 2-6 8, Austin 0-2 0-2 0, Barth 4-13 1-5 9, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Bowers 3-4 0-1 7, Schramm 6-14 2-4 17, Milliette 1-1 0-0 2, Love 0-3 8-14 8, Harter 2-6 0-4 4, Miller 3-5 2-2 8. Totals 22-53 15-38 63.
Zillah	8	11	11	23	--	53
Chelan	22	8	12	21	--	63
3-point goals--Z 6-16 (Gonzales 2-5, Patterson 2-6, Uasike 1-1, Ziegler 1-4), C 4-9 (Schramm 3-7, Bowers 1-2). Rebounds--Z 36 (Guthrie 10), C 48 (Barth 8, Schramm 8). Assists--Z 10 (Ziegler 4), C 14 (Harris 4). Steals--Z 8 (Ziegler 4), C 15 (Schramm 4, Barth 4). Blocked shots--Z 3 (Guthrie 3), C 2. Fouled out--Ziegler, Harris. Total fouls--Z 24, C 22. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--Z 26, C 21.